PICOT Worksheet on Infection Control and Prevention Essay

PICOT Worksheet on Infection Control and Prevention Essay

PICOT Worksheet on Infection Control and Prevention Essay

PICOT Worksheet on Infection Control and Prevention
The promotion of safety and quality outcomes is important in nursing practice. Nurses implement evidence-based interventions to address both actual and potential needs of their populations. Health problems such as hospital-acquired infections threaten the realization of these outcomes. Therefore, this paper explores hospital-acquired infections and proposes an intervention that can be adopted to address it in PICOT format.

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Identification of the Practice Issue
The identified practice issue is hospital-acquired infections. According to Asfaw (2021), hospital-acquired infections are the main cause of mortality and morbidity among hospitalized patients as well as healthcare providers. Patients develop hospital-acquired infections within 48 hours of admission or more or within 30 days following their discharge from the hospital. The most commonly reported hospital-acquired infections among hospitalized patients include urinary tract infections, lower respiratory tract infections and surgical site infections. Healthcare providers, including nurses are increasingly predisposed to these infections due to occupational exposure(Asfaw, 2021). For example, they are highly exposed to body fluids and contact with contaminated environments as well as patients affected by these conditions.
Several factors increase the risk of patients developing hospital-acquired infections. They can be classified as patient and institutional-related factors. Patient-related factors include immunity status, age, medications, and medical procedures. Institution-related factors include underestimation of hand hygiene, staff shortages, and poor compliance with isolation procedures(Asfaw, 2021; Mitra et al., 2021). Nurses and other healthcare providers play crucial roles in preventing hospital-acquired infections, hence, the need for this project.
Significance of the Practice Issue
As noted above, hospital-acquired infections act as a source of disease burden to patients and their significant others. It contributes to high disease morbidity and mortality among the affected populations. Evidence reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that the prevalence rate of hospital-acquired infections in the high-income countries range between 5.1% and 11.6%(Mitra et al., 2021). Hospital-acquired infections increase healthcare costs. The increased care costs arise from prolonged hospitalization and demand for complex care by the hospitalized patients. They also increase the risk of antibiotic resistance(Asfaw, 2021). The resistance arises from the use of different antibiotics in a bid to eliminate the causative agent of the disease.
Prolonged hospitalization also affects the patient and family’s quality of life. This arises from the loss of productivity and inability to engage in social and occupational roles among the affected. The risk of deaths due to complications of hospital-acquired infections is also high (Kakkar et al., 2021; Mitra et al., 2021). For example, septicemia may lead to premature mortalities among the patients. The healthcare systems and the country suffer from increased disease burden and spending on healthcare(Wolfensberger et al., 2020), hence, the need for the adoption of evidence-based interventions to address the problem.
Discussion of the PICOT Elements
PICOT model is an element that is used to guide the development of evidence-based investigations to improve nursing practice. The elements of the model include population, intervention, comparison, outcome, and time. Therefore, the following is the proposed PICOT statement to address the selected practice problem:
P: Among hospitalized patients
I: Does the provision of structured education and training to nurses on infection control and prevention
C: Usual care
O: Reduction in rates of hospital-acquired infections by 50%
T: Six months
PICOT Narrative Statement: Among hospitalized patients, does the provision of structured education and training to nurses on infection and prevention as compared to usual care reduce rates of hospital-acquired infections by 50% within six months?
Conclusion
Hospital-acquired infections is the selected practice issue. Hospital-acquired infections act as a source of disease burden to patients, families, healthcare providers, health systems, and the country. The proposed intervention entails the provision of structured training and education to nurses on infection control and prevention. The expected outcome entails the reduction in the rates of hospital-acquired infections among hospitalized patients.
 
References
Asfaw, N. (2021). Knowledge and practice of nurses towards prevention of hospital acquired infections and its associated factors. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences, 15, 100333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2021.100333
Kakkar, S. K., Bala, M., & Arora, V. (2021). Educating nursing staff regarding infection control practices and assessing its impact on the incidence of hospital-acquired infections. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 10, 40. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_542_20
Mitra, M., Ghosh, A., Pal, R., &Basu, M. (2021). Prevention of hospital-acquired infections: A construct during Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 10(9), 3348. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_742_21
Wolfensberger, A., Clack, L., von Felten, S., Kusejko, K., Faes Hesse, M., Jakob, W., Saleschus, D., Meier, M.-T., Kouyos, R., Held, L., & Sax, H. (2020). Implementation and evaluation of a care bundle for prevention of non-ventilator-associated hospital-acquired pneumonia (nvHAP)—A mixed-methods study protocol for a hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation trial. BMC Infectious Diseases, 20(1), 603. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-020-05271-5

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Complete the Week 2 PICOT WorksheetLinks to an external site.using complete sentences.

Include a minimum of 2 scholarly nursing sources, current within 5 years, to support your work.

Credit sources with citations and a reference list using current APA format guidelines.

Use correct spelling, word usage, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, congruent with graduate-level writing.

No direct quotes may be used in this assignment.

Directions and Assignment Criteria

It is an expectation that a minimum of two scholarly nursing sources, current within five years, are integrated within the assignment. If the above expectation is not met, 5 points shall be deducted.

Assignment Criteria Points % Description

Identification of a Practice Issue

15

10%

This section of the worksheet includes:

Identification of one practice-related issue

Description of the issue

Rationale for addressing this issue

Sufficient support from current, scholarly

nursing sources is included

Significance of the Practice Issue

30

20%
This section of the worksheet includes:

Significance of the issue and its impact

Implications for the nursing profession

Sufficient support from current, scholarly nursing sources is included

Discussion of PICOT Elements

60

40%

This section of the worksheet includes:

Accurate and clear discussion of the following elements, including one to two sentences to address each:

P-Population and Problem – What is the nursing practice issue or problem and whom does it affect?

I-Intervention – What evidence-based solution for the problem would you like to apply?

C-Comparison – what is another solution for the problem? Note that this is typically the current practice, no intervention at all, or alternative solutions.

O-Outcome – Very specifically, how will you know that the intervention worked? What will be the indicator of success, and how will that outcome be measured?

T-Timeframe – Target date for outcome achievement.

PICOT Statement (Narrative)

30

20%

This section of the worksheet includes:

Construction of the above described PICOT elements in the standard, narrative PICOT statement format.

Within the PICOT statement, all required elements are included (Population and Problem, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Timeframe)

Graduate-level Writing Style

15

10%

For full credit in this rubric category, all of the following criteria must be met:Correct spelling and word usage

Correct use of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure

Clarity, organization, and logical flow of ideas within writing

Scholarly, professional writing tone with no use of first person

Synthesis of information is present with no direct quotes

Correct APA format for the following:

Citing sources

Referencing sources

Validity and Reliability of Sources

20

13%

The PICOT worksheet is completed

Minimum of 2 (two) appropriate research scholarly nursing references

References are current – within a 5-year time frame.

Title page and Reference page added to the PICOT worksheet template.

Graduate-Level Writing Style

It is an expectation that a minimum of two scholarly nursing sources, current within five years, are integrated within the assignment.

If the above expectation is not met, 5 points shall be deducted.

If the above expectation is not met, 5 points shall be deducted.

Total150

100%